Page 518 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

Research Library. These databases may contain full-text articles from
journals, newspapers, magazines, and encyclopedias, or they may

contain article abstracts. Full-text articles in a database are exactly

the same articles you would find in a periodical, so there is no need to

locate the original periodical. Article abstracts are summaries of

articles that appear in periodicals. To access the complete text of an

abstracted article, locate a copy of the periodical in which it originally
appeared.

Internet Sources

Internet sources vary widely in quality, so it is necessary to be aware

of the type of site you are visiting. If the site has the suffix .gov, it is an

official government site. The suffix .org indicates a nonprofit

organization. The .edu suffix is reserved for colleges and universities.
Sites with this suffix may contain faculty and student home pages,

official college information, and community outreach sites. The .com

suffix denotes a commercial site, and anyone may set up a site with

the suffix .com. It is up to you to evaluate the credibility of each site

you visit.

Evaluating Sources: Four Questions to

Ask

The four questions that follow will help you evaluate an article or book

that you are thinking of using in your research.